I was writing a blog for the mobile game, Hungry Aliens, when I got an email offering me a code to the game, The Gate Must Stand. In the email, they referenced Vampire Survivors. In the same way, Hungry Aliens is very much another auto-shooter survival game; this is, too. So, I delayed the blog this week so I could share my thoughts once the embargo lifted. The Gate Must Stand might seem like another clone of the genre. But its unique gameplay hook has made it hard for me to put the game down.
Shooter survival with a focus on tower defense
The core gameplay of The Game Must Stand is that you are a hero tasked with protecting a castle. Monsters are approaching, and you need to protect the gate so the citizens can escape. The goal is to survive the twenty-minute time needed for their evacuation. So, it’s you against countless swarms of foes. Except you’re not actually alone.
This is where the game stands out from the other auto-shooter survival games. Here, they add a layer of tower defense to the gameplay. As you are fending off foes, you can add units and other items to fortify your defenses. Each minute, a set of units or weapons is on offer for you to recruit. These all have a cost, with coins earned from defeating foes. You can use the coins you earn to recruit more units on the battlefield or to upgrade the ones you already have.
Your units don’t disappear. If you or your units fall in battle, there is a timer that counts down before respawning. As you’d expect with these kinds of games, leveling up is possible, so that resurrection is faster. Leveling up also offers other perks. You’ve got your typical upgrades, including increased XP gains, health, or stronger units. This makes every fun feel different, and it also allows for some creativity on the part of the player.
Lots to unlock
There are three Castles to protect, each with varying layouts. You won’t be able to incorporate the same strategy across the three. As you play the game, you will also unlock new units and perks. While the levels vary, you will have to survive the full twenty minutes.
The main monsters show up every five minutes, so you will need to defeat four of them while keeping your gate safe. This is where the game gets challenging. These monsters are sponges. On top of that, you still have to contend with the regular minions that are making their way towards the gate.
Even with only three gates, there is a lot to unlock. Boss encounters are random. The same is true for where you can place units. So, every run feels different. After finishing the third castle, the game hints that there is more to discover. This leads me to believe that increasing difficulty unlocks more content. There also might be a true ending, but the story here isn’t that engaging.
Needs a bit of optimization
While this game feels perfect for the Steam Deck, it needs further optimization. They haven’t made the game with controller support in mind. They designed the game for keyboard and mouse. It’s not 1:1 here, so it will take a bit of time to get used to things. For example, your Hero can unlock active skills. I figured that the Y button is for your first skill. But I couldn’t figure out the one for the secondary skill. I had to go into the options and fool around with the keys. It doesn’t seem like it’s aligned to a command on the controller. I was able to remap the controls, but it’s still not a great process.
The Steam Deck offers touch controls. Since this game relies on using a mouse to do things, like placing barricades on the map, it’s the way to go. I didn’t try the game on a desktop PC, so I can’t say if the controls feel better there. But again, this game needs proper controller support.
To be fair, I am playing the game pre-launch. There may be a patch coming, either on Day One or in the next few weeks. If it’s not at the top of the developer’s “To Do List”, it should be. It was the only thing that annoyed me.
A pleasant Surprise
The Gate Must Stand surprised me with how much fun it was. It’s been a while since I played a tower-defense game. Incorporating that gameplay into an auto-shooter survival game is a smart idea. If this is the first, I suspect others will follow with their own take. If this isn’t the first, then I need to go out and find those out and see how they compare. All I need now is for the devs to optimize the game for a controller so the Steam Deck experience improves.
